Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro on
Wednesday named a new vice-president,
who would take over as head of state if
Maduro were removed from office this year
as the opposition demands.
Maduro told a televised cabinet meeting that he
had named Tareck El Aissami, 42, a powerful
state governor, to the post.
El Assaimi is governor of the violent northern
state of Aragua and served as interior and
justice minister under Maduro's late predecessor
Hugo Chavez .
"I have appointed Tareck El Aissami executive
vice-president of the republic so that he can take
up the role from 2017 to 2018 with his youth,
experience, commitment and courage," Maduro
said.
Food crisis
The center-right opposition has been demanding
a popular vote on removing Maduro from office.
It blames him for an economic crisis that has
prompted shortages of food and medicine and
deadly riots.
The opposition has missed the deadline for
sparking fresh elections by a referendum before
Maduro's term ends in 2019, however.
Under constitutional rules, if Maduro lost a
referendum held after January 10 this year, he
could pass power to his handpicked vice-
president.
El Assaimi replaces Aristobulo Isturiz, 70, who
has been Maduro's vice-president since January
2016.
Opposition maneuvers
The MUD opposition coalition is scheduled to
announce its latest plans when its lawmakers
gather in the legislature on Thursday.
It has not said whether it will resume its drive
for a referendum against Maduro.
Courts and electoral authorities in October
blocked the opposition's bid to hold a recall
referendum.
The MUD alleges that Maduro controls the
Supreme Court and electoral board through his
allies.
Maduro also has the public backing of the
military high command.
Maduro vows 'recovery'
Falling world prices for Venezuela's crucial oil
revenues have aggravated its economic chaos
since 2014.
Maduro says the crisis is the result of a US-
backed capitalist conspiracy.
Some opposition leaders sat down in late 2016
to talks with Maduro's government.
Others branded the dialogue a ploy to defuse
protests against the government and its
"Bolivarian revolution" launched by Chavez.
The opposition walked out of the talks last
month, accusing the government of breaking its
promises.
The MUD insists that Venezuelans be allowed to
vote on whether Maduro should stay in power.
He has refused to allow any such vote and stuck
to his defiant line on Wednesday.
He said "2017 will be the first year of the
recovery and the expansion of the Bolivarian
revolution on all fronts."
Security
El Assaimi, of Syrian and Lebanese ancestry, is a
senior member of Maduro's United Venezuelan
Socialist Party.
He was a junior security minister before holding
the interior and justice post for four years.
He then became governor of Aragua, considered
the most dangerous state in a South American
country plagued by violence.
"I told him, Tareck, get to work day and night
working for the security of the people," Maduro
said on Wednesday.
He called on the new vice-president to wage a
"fight against criminals, the fight to clean up the
regional police forces, the fight against far-right
terrorists."
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